Latino TV viewing habits

Hispanic activists have long criticized Nielsen figures, saying that the television data-gathering institution doesn’t include enough Latinos in general, and more recently, that it doesn’t include enough U.S.-born Latinos.

Their argument, according to Hispanic Business.com, is that Nielsen figures show more Latinos watching Spanish-language television than English-language programming.

This week, the Nielsen company announced it will no longer use the National Hispanic People Meter to track Latino TV viewing habits.

Instead, the company will use the National People Meter to do the tracking, which it uses for other viewers.

The decision is a partial win for the group Help Change TV, which argues that Nielsens don’t include enough U.S.-born Latinos in its data collection, giving the impression that more Latinos watch television in Spanish.

A report in HispanicBusiness.com says the National People Meter includes 12,000 households, 1,400 of which are Latino. The National Hispanic People Meter contained 1,000.

But given what the Nielsen ratings say Latinos are watching — an estimated 12 million households, no less — the bigger issue may be our TV tastes.

For the week of Aug. 20-26, for example, more Latinos watched NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” ABC’s “Just for Laughs” and “Primetime: Crime,” in that order. Coming in a little later were CBS’ “CSI,” “Without a Trace” and “Criminal Minds.”

Let’s hope more Latinos watch Ken Burns’ upcoming PBS documentary “The War” — not only because of the controversy surrounding the filmmaker’s lack of Hispanic veterans in the piece, but because Austin filmmaker Hector Galan shot footage that has been added to the documentary.